Classifying Three-Dimensional Shapes Resources

3D shapes are solid objects that have three dimensions. These dimensions are length, width, and height. While 2D shapes are flat, 3D shapes objects that have depth to them. A soccer ball is a 3D shape, also known as a sphere, while a circle on a piece of paper is a 2D shape. To learn more about the different names and properties of 3D shapes, see our resources below.

3D shapes can be complicated to work with at first because they have strange names and properties that are different from the familiar 2D shapes. We’ve put together a list of some properties of common 3D shapes and common equations that can be used when working with 3D shapes.

3D Shape	Properties	Volume	Surface Area
Sphere	It has no edges or vertices (corners) It has one surface It is perfectly symmetrical All points on the surface are the same distance "r" from the center	4⁄3 × π × r3	4 × π × r2
Cylinder	It has a flat base and a flat top The base is the same as the top It has one curved side	π × r2 × h	2 × π × r × (r + h)
Cone	It has a flat base It has one curved side	1⁄3 × π × r2 × h	π × r × (r + s)
Cube	It has 6 Faces, each with 4 edges (and is a square) It has 12 Edges It has 8 Vertices (corner points), each is where 3 edges meet	(edge length)3	6 × (edge length)2
Triangular Prism	It has identical ends (triangles) and flat faces It has the same cross section all along its length	Base area × length	2 × base area + base perimeter × length

Now that you have a list of some of the common 3D shapes, dive into our resources to learn how to apply these shapes and other, or move on to our volume page to learn how to calculate how much area these 3D shapes take up.